Heritage Open Day: Downside Abbey is one of the architectural and historical gems of Somerset. We are offering two free guided tours. 1) The abbey church and monastic cemetery 2) The private monastery gardens. Downside Abbey (the minor Basilica of St. Gregory the Great) is one of only four minor basilicas in the UK and is one of England’s great neo-Gothic churches. The grade one listed building is work of several distinguished architects including Thomas Garner, Sir Ninian Comper and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. The Abbey is the senior Benedictine monastery of the English Benedictine Congregation.
The grounds and buildings were developed by the community of St Gregory the Great (originally founded in Douai in 1606) after it settled at Downside in 1814.